Movies and Food

"Bring some chocolate with you". That is the suggestion that a friend of mine received from another friend when we went to the movies to see "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" in 2005. My friend followed the advice and I probably should have had too: the movie has chocolate everywhere and, not very subliminally, at one point you want it too...badly. 

Some movies wants to make you cry, some laugh, some stand up and fight, some run away...some make you want to eat, or to cook and then eat everything you made! I am referring to those movies were food and the art of cooking are a positive, dominating presence, something that make the characters and the audience happy and that is the key behind the message of the film. There are many of this kind, one of which been Woman on Top; but I am not going to bore everyone up with that one again. Instead, here is my personal top three of films where the passion for food and cooking is contagious.

Bella Martha (2002). Food can save your life, not only physically. This German movie shows the difficulties that an aunt and her niece find in regaining a normal life after the loss of the little girl's mother. Martha (Gedeck) is, of course, a chef and a really strict, uptight one. Her existence will be revolutionized by the arrival of her italian nemesis, Mario (Castellitto), whose cooking style is the exact opposite. Creation and creativity as order vs. to creation and creativity as distruction and caos: two philosophies and lifestyles completely opposed to each other. And it works: the movie is fresh and touching and funny. Remarkable for the topic of this post is the scene in which Mario cooks in Martha's home, destroying her kitchen in the process.

Chocolat (2000). Chocolate can open your mind. In a small French hypercatholic village, during the 50s, a woman and her daughter open up a chocolate shop, during Lent! Vianne (Binoche) thus brings on herself the anger of the bigot mayor of the village, who will oppose her and her "liberal" lifestyle with all his strenghts. In the process, like a fresh breeze, Vianne will bring caos and then peace to herself and the people of the village. I always enjoy watching this movie: moralist and close minded people did not estinguish in the 50s and I find that this film teaches a good lesson in a direct and non paternalistic way. The most "drool inducing" scene is the preparation and realization of Armande's (Dench) birthday dinner.

Julie & Julia (2009). The art and passion of cooking can connect people through the years. Julie (Adams), frustrated about her non-literary life, opens up a blog in which she writes about the realization, throughout a year, of every recepie contained in Julia Child's (Streep) book. On the other side of the time line, Julia struggles to bring French cuisine to the avarage american housewife. This is not my favorite movie, but I like the parallelism of the two women's life, both loving butter and the art of cooking, both loving their men, both looking to fit in in their lives. There is no particular scene connected to food in this film, because all my memories related to it have delicious dishes and passionate cooking in them: cooking is really the main character!